Sensory Overload
by headinthecloudsgirl
Summary: Reply to following prompt on the Daredevil Kinkmeme: Foggy, sensory overload (Anonymous) 2017-03-28 10:25 pm (UTC) You know what I haven't read about? Foggy having a sensory overload. Maybe it's from anxiety. Maybe Matt comes back to their dorm during college or something and he finds Foggy curled up on his bed with his hands pressed over his ears, sobbing quietly...


**A/N:** **What can I say, I just love the kinkmeme... I've got like 5 other prompts I want to do as soon as I've got some time to spare :D**  
 **I hope I kinda wrote what the prompter wanted me to write - if I haven't, well, I hope you guys enjoy it anyway!**  
 **(I had like one and a half hours to spare so I haven't had time to properly check for typos and grammar, sorry if there are glaring mistakes!)**

It had been a long week. Like a really really long week. Matt liked to joke that Foggy would graduate summa cum laude too if he just studied harder, but let's be real, that was just kidding. The moment

finals came close, Foggy spend the nights glued to his desk or the desks in the library, only stopping to get Matt and him some food and coffee. Foggy probably did even more hours than Matt because he had quite some catching up to do – it couldn't be denied that he took some nights off during the semester. Long story short, they had written four exams that week, two more would be written within the next four days and both Matt and Foggy couldn't tell left from right anymore.

Barely concealing a yawn, Matt walked towards their room, cane lazily swinging in front of him, clutching a small bag of groceries in the other hand. He'd gone to the small store on campus, getting a couple of snacks and coffee to get them through the night and then practically sleep-walked back to the dorm.

Jesus Christ, he was spent. That was probably also the reason why he didn't pick up on what was happening in their room a lot earlier. Matt was already on their floor, when he heard Foggy sobbing quietly, breathing uneven and hiccupping every now and then.

Not even really checking if someone could see him, Matt dropped all pretenses, let go of the bag and his cane and started a dead-run towards Foggy.

His mind was going a thousand miles an hour, coming up with horrible scenarios what could possibly have happened for Foggy to be crying on his bed. There was no one else in their room, Matt would have sensed them, but the possibilities were endless. Had Stick come and told him about Matt? Was Elektra back? Did something happen to Foggy's family?

Matt bustled through the door – it wasn't even locked – and went straight for Foggy's bed.

"Fog? Hey, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Matt asked, sat down and put his hand on Foggy's shoulder.

His friend was curled into a ball, lying on top of the covers, hands over his ears.

Hang on, hands over his ears?

Realisation sank in at the same time that Matt felt Foggy flinching away from his touch, making a face at the volume of his voice.

"Shit, sorry," Matt whispered and carefully pulled his hand back. He slipped his shoes off, got up and closed the door as quietly as possible, before going over to his bedside table where he gathered some stuff.

"It'll be all right, Foggy, I promise," Matt mumbled when he had reached the other side of the room again and knelt next to Foggy's bed.

"I don't know what's happening, Matt," Foggy choked out, rocking himself slightly.

"It's called sensory overload. Too much information to sort through and your brain just kind of goes haywire," Matt explained while opening a small bottle of peppermint oil and put a few drops right next to Foggy's nose. He had noticed that Foggy always inhaled deeply whenever Matt had the oil out, he seemed to enjoy it just as much as Matt did.

"I'll and try and cancel out as much as I can, okay? It's important for you to try to concentrate on only one thing, all right? Try to blend out everything else."

Matt slipped his noise-cancelling headphones over Foggy's ears and then listened for the electric hum that would indicate that the light in their room was on. When his ears picked up a bunch of noise but not the one he was searching for, Matt exhaled and was glad that the room would be at least dark enough to be comfortable.

Next were Foggy's shoes that he still had on and then Matt was left standing in the room, indecisive.

He could either try to ground his friend through touch and help him through the episode or make everything worse with that action because it could tip Foggy over the edge.

Foggy eventually made the decision for him, "Matty?"

Matt carefully sat down on the bed, back against the headboard and the legs stretched out in front of him, trying to press up against Foggy's back.

"Sshh. Try to get some rest, Foggy. Everything will be okay," Matt said, not even knowing if Foggy could hear him with the headphones on.

When Foggy woke up, it was to complete disorientation. He blinked several times before memory came back, making his heart rate sky-rocket.

The warmth along his back turned out to be Matt, who snapped awake and immediately turned towards him, inching back the headphones. "Foggy?"

"Hey, Matt," Foggy mumbled and tried to get his breathing back under control.

"Are you feeling better?" Matt whispered and Foggy could practically feel the frown forming on Matt's face.

"Stop worrying, Matty, I'm a lot better," he answered and sat up slowly. "Jesus, what the hell was that?"

When Matt didn't even point out the blasphemy, Foggy was the one who started to worry. "Matt?"

"I've just never witnessed you like that. I didn't know what to do, if I could have helped more."

Foggy sighed and leaned against Matt.

"Matty, I have never witnessed myself like that. That was the first time something like that happened – and I sure as hell hope that it'll be the last time, too. And stop with your catholic guilt thing, you helped a lot," Foggy said and shook his head at himself, freaking out like that definitely wasn't like him.

"It probably happened because of the stress, you know? You ran yourself ragged, studying through the nights. No wonder that your body went into overdrive," Matt reasoned.

Foggy nodded to himself, feeling his hair bobbing against Matt's shoulder and then realised something, "By the way, Matt, why do you have all that stuff that helped me?"

The moment he asked that question, the puzzle pieces clicked in Foggy's head and his head snapped to stare at Matt. "Please don't tell me that this is something that happens to you? It is, isn't it? Every time you open that bottle of peppermint oil? Oh, jeez, Matt – "

"Hey, it's all right. It's not that often."

"I'm looking at you in a very disbelieving way."

Matt chuckled at that and changed his course a bit. "Well, it is not as often as it used to be? It's just that sometimes my senses compensate too much and it gets a bit overwhelming. You help, though. If I can focus on one thing, it doesn't get that bad most of the time, I promise. I just focus on you."

Foggy felt a smile creep onto his face and cleared his throat slightly. "Well, that doesn't sound creepy at all." He poked his elbow into Matt's side and made sure to let his grin bleed into his voice; Matt was a master at understanding things the wrong way.

"I guess I like looking at you," Matt said with a straight face.

"That one was just horrible, Murdock," Foggy laughed and poked Matt again. "Hey, you ever feel overwhelmed, you tell me, okay? I'm here for you, dude."

Matt turned and smiled at him, eyes focusing somewhere around Foggy's nose. "Same goes for you."

"You didn't agree, Matty," Foggy said sternly. "You can't lawyer-talk your way out of that."

"Well, counselor, I think lawyer-talking is exactly what we should do, or did you already start prepping your argumentation for fake-court tomorrow?"

Foggy let his head fall against the headboard and groaned, "Matt!"


End file.
